Down IV Part One - The Purple EP
ILG/ Warner Music Group
Down was originally a bayou-based, side-project supergroup forged in the ’90s. After withstanding two hiatuses, cranking out three LPs and a live CD/DVD set, Down has become the collective members’ full-time gig. Vocalist Phil Anselmo (Pantera), guitarists Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity) and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), drummer Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod), and new bassist Pat Bruders—replacing longtime bassist Rex Brown—offer their first chapter of a four-EP metal opus spanning their combined influences.
This is firmly in the band’s comfort zone—Southern broasted, neck-snapping riffs, power-meets-sludge metal grooves, and Anselmo’s signature gravelly, dynamic vocals. Familiar highlights include “Witchtripper” with its bulldozing wall of sound and “Open Coffins,” which sounds like a B-side accidentally left off A Bustle in Your Hedgerow. Updates to Down’s patented, Cajun-sauced metal recipe include dark, mournful delay and phaser effects, while overall there’s a bit more Molly Hatchet-style guitar harmonizing between Keenan and Windstein.
The six-song Purple EP avoids any monotonous agro-level riffs often found in sludge or doom metal, instead crafting a new batch of NOLA-Zeppelin stoner rock starting Down’s quartet of EPs on the right path. —Chris Kies
Must-hear track: “Open Coffins”
Slayer guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman formed the original searing 6-string front line of the most brutal band in the land. Together, they created an aggressive mood of malcontent with high-velocity thrash riffs and screeching solos that’ll slice your speaker cones. The only way to create a band more brutal than Slayer would be to animate them, and that’s exactly what Metalocalypse (and Home Movies) creator Brendon Small did.
From his first listen, Small has been a lifetime devotee and thrash-metal expert, so we invited him to help us break down what makes Slayer so great. Together, we dissect King and Hanneman’s guitar styles and list their angriest, most brutal songs, as well as those that create a mood of general horribleness.
This episode is sponsored by EMG Pickups.
Use code EMG100 for 15% off at checkout!
Learn more: emgpickups.com
At 26, Blu DeTiger is the youngest musician ever to have a signature Fender bass guitar. The Fender Limited Player Plus x Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass, announced in September, pays tribute to the bassist and singer’s far-reaching impact and cultural sway. She’s played with Caroline Polachek, Bleachers, FLETCHER, Olivia Rodrigo, and more, and released her own LP in March 2024. In 2023, Forbes feature her on their top 30 Under 30 list of musicians. So how did DeTiger work her way to the top?
DeTiger opens up on this episode of Wong Notes about her career so far, which started at a School of Rock camp at age seven. That’s where she started performing and learning to gig with others—she played at CBGB’s before she turned 10. DeTiger took workshops with Victor Wooten at Berklee followed and studied under Steven Wolf, but years of DJing around New York City, which hammered in the hottest basslines in funk and disco, also imprinted on her style. (Larry Graham is DeTiger’s slap-bass hero.)
DeTiger and Wong dish on the ups and downs of touring and session life, collaborating with pop artists to make “timeless” pop songs, and how to get gigs. DeTiger’s advice? “You gotta be a good hang.”
